Conceived during the optimism of the bubble era, but built in the mid 1990s, the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography's development was stunted by budget cuts, less-than-impressive attendance and an unfocused raison d'etre.
Although centrally located in Ebisu with a large exhibition space, the MoP always seemed something of an underachiever -- overly modest and apparently unwilling to claim its place as our city's premier venue for photography, perhaps due to the increased attention given to photography by other museums recently.
Happily, the museum's ambitious new exhibition, "Absolutely Private: On Photography in the Zero Decade," does almost everything right, suggesting that the MoP, now celebrating its 10th anniversary, is finally coming of age.